I'm not sure about the rest of you who are getting ready for this year's growing season, but we've yet to begin. With us headed to Florida, later this year than ever before, we've put most things on hold. We'll be leaving for warmer weather and sunshine later in February and returning the 1st week of April.
Even though snow is still on the ground and temperatures most often remain well below freezing, we have continued to be busy over the past several months. Taking care of the mushroom logs, freezing collard greens, and processing loads of potatoes reminds us of all that will be necessary when we return from vacation.
I did mention that there was still lots of snow and look how it has pilled up at the back of our home. Can that be a snow drift, no. Can that be a pile of snow that I shoveled, no. Maybe there is something hiding under that pile, yes!
Last March I decided to give growing mushrooms a go. @plantstoplanks turned me onto this endeavor. I wonder how she is making out with her first go at this?
In late December with Old Man Winter in full swing, the instructions for growing Shitake Mushrooms was to insulate the inoculated logs from a deep freeze. After watching a video on how to deal with the numbing temperatures of winter I insulated the inoculated logs with leaves, and hay and then covered the pile with a tarp. As the snow continued to pile up on the ground the snow also acted as an insulator. We'll be able to see how it all worked come this spring!
This past year we planted collard green seeds for the first time. What a remarkable, cold-resistant veggie this is. We were able to pick these delicious greens even after the first frost and even after several snowfalls. From what I have learned about collard greens, they are as nutritious as spinach. We harvested so many greens we were able to deep freeze over 60 packages of this hardy veggie. With as well as we did with them they will be a veggie that we will grow every year.
Many of the leaves were three times the size of my hand.
Last year's potato harvest was the best.
@farm-mom took the lead when it came to preparing the spuds for storage. We now got mashed, smashed, fries, grated, and whole potatoes ready to go. I think that we've got so many that we will be able to chow down on them until we harvest again next year.
Good luck to all those wonderful GREEN THUMB, DIRTY FINGERNAIED, ORGANIC GARDNERS WHO GROW THEIR OWN.
